Build Your Own Clone Message Board

So I see people's builds that say about having long wire on the pots and jacks then trimming them. Do you desolder the pots, trim the wires, then resolder? I know its a dumb question, but I haven't seen it addressed, and my last bit of wiring looked like a wire factory upchucked in my box. What are some of your tips for a clean build? I'm not good enough to box it up without testing.

Observe the distance of stripped wire between the wire that isn't stripped and the lugs on the pot.



When attaching wire to the pots, don't leave any more bare wire in that location than what the pic shows, no matter how much is stripped. That way, if you have extra it all sticks out on the other end and can simple be clipped off.

At least, I think that's what people mean when they say they clipped off the excess

+1, I solder up my pots like that, with about 4-5" of wire on them, install them, then cut the wire to reach where it needs to and attach the PCB.

Definitely not a dumb question. My method has evolved over the past year (it's hard to believe I built my first pedal little more than a year ago!). My first pedals were BYOC kits, so I simply cut the wire to the lengths as directed in the instructions. When I began to branch out, I adopted a "cut the wire the length of the enclosure" rule that I picked up reading tips here. Therefore:


Yes (kind of). Initially, I would test the circuit, remove the wire from the PCB (not from the pot, seems like less work. Also, usually not cutting, just heating and removing), and then cut to length once everything was in place. It occurred to me that if I had my enclosure drilled, etc. beforehand, I could save myself this step by measuring the length necessary for each run of wire from PCB to pot, jack, etc. However, I now have a completely different process. I test everything through my breadboard. I built a variation of a Beavis board:



Here you can see I've gone back to the "length of the enclosure" rule for initial wire length. I tin the ends and run all the connections through the breadboard to a leftover stomp box. There are terminal strips for making connections to 9v, ground, in, out, and any pots/switches. And, if you think that's the end of it, you're wrong! I now don't bother mounting pots in the enclosure and instead keep a good number of PCB mounted pots of normal values that I can plug into the breadboard.

But in the end, there's always a "trim excess wire" step along the way!

I find using a template helps me get clean wiring. I can stick all the parts through the template, solder it up and test it. Then when I'm ready to box it up, everything is the right length because as luck would have it, the template was the same size as the box. Or because I'm lazy, the box is the template. About half way down you see how I did the wiring: http://www.buildyourownclone.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=33177

Also, when wiring up parts that have alot of metal, like jacks and pots, I find it helpful to tin both the wire and the jack/knob lug. This allows me to work alot faster when it comes time to mate the two parts, and if I play my cards right, there will be enough rosin and solder left over from the tinning that I won't need to add any solder when I go to do the final joint. When I looked at professional products, I always wondered how they made joints and the isolation on the wire didn't burn back. That's how it's done. Or you can cheat and use wire with high temp isolation like teflon.

thanks for the replies. i was a little concerned with desoldering-resoldering connections. but i just picked up some solid core wire from evil-bay, and if i do it at the board end it may not be too bad.

on a side note, is it a bad thing that i'm a member of several forums, but this is the only one i'm active in? you all make the learning process a lot more fun. and the random posts help get me through the 12 hour work days.